Angels in the early books of the Old Testament almost always go unnamed. Texts from before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians exhibit almost no interest in the heavenly messengers themselves. They are not individuated in any way. They do not have personal names. Angels play a significant role in 29 chapters of these pre-exilic portions of the Bible. In nearly all of these instances, the angels are referred to simply as an “angel of God” or an “angel of the Lord.” Eventually, named angels would become more common, but when Lehi left Jerusalem, biblical texts rarely recorded the names of angels. One sees this pattern of angels going unnamed throughout the Book of Mormon.

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